Nous Research, the developer of Hermes Agent, raised $90 million in a Series B funding round, bringing the startup's valuation to $1.5 billion. The capital will support the expansion of AI agents designed for business users as the market for agentic AI systems accelerates. Source
Healthleap, a healthcare AI startup, raised $38 million across two funding rounds to expand its software that flags hospital patients who may require closer clinical attention. The financing includes an $8 million seed round co-led by Sequoia Capital and First Round Capital, and a $30 million Series A led by Hummingbird Ventures. Source
Google DeepMind, Meta, and Isomorphic Labs, an AI drug discovery startup, are jointly investing $300 million into a "virtual cell" initiative led by Biohub, a nonprofit biomedical research organization founded by Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan. The project aims to create a computational model researchers can use to combat disease. Source
Michael Smith, a fraudster, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for using bots and AI-generated songs to generate approximately $8 million in fraudulent music streaming royalties. Prosecutors said Smith flooded streaming platforms with artificially inflated plays of his AI music to earn illegitimate payouts from rights holders. Source
Meta's Muse, an AI agent, launched on iPad just a month after its mobile debut, as the company rapidly expands the assistant's reach and platform availability. The tool is designed to compete with other agentic AI systems in a crowded market. Source